2 Live Crew – Do Wah Diddy

Quando il vero hip hop imperversava per MTV e riusciva ad arrivare a tutti, certo in questo caso la cover di Do Wah Diddy è un'esempio estremamente cazzeggione. I 2 Live Crew sparirono negli anni 90 con qualche sporadica reunion fino alla morte, nel 2017 a soli 53 anni, di Fresh Kid Ice.

Song

"Do Wah Diddy Diddy" is a song written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich and originally recorded in 1963, as "Do-Wah-Diddy", by the American vocal group The Exciters. It was made internationally famous by the British band Manfred Mann.

Manfred Mann version

It was soon covered by British R&B, beat and pop band Manfred Mann. Manfred Mann's version was released on 10 July, and spent two weeks No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in August, and two weeks at the No. 1 spot in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in October.

Other versions

The song has been covered many times, notably by DJ Ötzi whose version titled "Do Wah Diddy" peaked at #9 on the Ö3 Austria Top 40, as well as charting in Germany, Switzerland, the UK and Ireland. Dutch girl group Dolly Dots recorded the song in 1982.

American hip-hop group 2 Live Crew created a characteristically explicit cover for the 1988 album Move Somethin'.

Popular Culture

The song was used as a military cadence in the movie Stripes.

The song was used as an opening and closing theme song of Ang TV.

Album

Move Somethin' is the second studio album by Miami-based hip hop group 2 Live Crew. It was released on August 17, 1988 via Luke Records and was produced by Luke Skyywalker and Mr. Mixx. It was certified Gold by Recording Industry Association of America and featured the singles "Move Somethin'" and "Do Wah Diddy Diddy".

The album improved on the charts from the previous album, making in to number 68 on the Billboard 200 and number 20 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. Musically, the album incorporates samples from such diverse sources as James Brown ("With Your Badself"), Manfred Mann ("Do Wah Diddy Diddy"), The Kinks ("One and One"), Yellow Magic Orchestra ("Mega-Mixx II"), Kraftwerk ("Drop the Bomb"), and Quadrant Six (the title track).

On the song "Word II", 2 Live Crew's DJ Mr. Mixx scratches up Brian May's guitar solo (as well as the chorus) on "We Will Rock You" over the crowd stomp-and-clap beat, which was sampled from the same song. Its wide musical range is nonetheless all encompassed by the Miami bass sound, in its heavy Roland TR-808 kicks and fast percussion, and as usual stamped with lyrics reflecting the group's sexually explicit humor.

Artist

The 2 Live Crew is an American hip-hop group from Miami, Florida. They caused considerable controversy with the sexual themes in their work, particularly on their 1989 album As Nasty As They Wanna Be.

On July 13, 2017, at age 53, Fresh Kid Ice passed away in a Miami hospital from cirrhosis of the liver.